t made by the French translator of Sprenger's _History of
Medicine_, who thought, from the sound of his name, that he was a German,
and rendered it as the "Donnateur," or Giver. No details of his life are
known; but it is asserted, that he wrote more than five hundred works upon
the philosopher's stone and the water of life. He was a great enthusiast
in his art, and compared the incredulous to little children shut up in a
narrow room, without windows or aperture, who, because they saw nothing
beyond, denied the existence of the great globe itself. He thought that a
preparation of gold would cure all maladies, not only in man, but in the
inferior animals and plants. He also imagined that all the metals laboured
under disease, with the exception of gold, which was the only one in
perfect health. He affirmed, that the secret of the philosopher's stone
had been more than once discovered; but that the ancient and wise men who
had hit upon it would never, by word or writing, communicate it to men,
because of their unworthiness and incredulity.[29] But the life of Geber,
though spent in the pursuit of this vain chimera, was not altogether
useless. He stumbled upon discoveries which he did not seek; and science
is indebted to him for the first mention of corrosive sublimate, the red
oxide of mercury, nitric acid, and the nitrate of silver.[30]

[28] _Biographie Universelle_.

[29] His sum "of perfection," or instructions to students to aid
them in the laborious search for the stone and elixir, has
been translated into most of the languages of Europe. An
English translation, by a great enthusiast in alchymy, one
Richard Russell, was published in London in 1686. The preface
is dated eight years previously from the house of the
alchymist, "at the Star, in Newmarket, in Wapping, near the
Dock." His design in undertaking the translation was, as he
informs us, to expose the false pretences of the many
ignorant pretenders to the science who abounded in his day.

[30] Article, Geber, _Biographie Universelle_.

For more than two hundred years after the death of Geber, the Arabian
philosophers devoted themselves to the study of alchymy, joining with it
that of astrology. Of these the most celebrated was

ALFARABI.

Alfarabi flourished at the commencement of the tenth century, and enjoyed
the reputation of being one of the most learned men